Kill the Attacking Aliens
Platform: Magnavox Odyssey2
Region: Homebrew
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Odyssey? Joystick
Genre: Shooter
Gametype: Undefined
Release Year: 2004
Developer: Soren Gust
Publisher: XYPE
Players: 1
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Congratulations! You have been selected as pilot to defend the planet earth and its moon colony against alien invaders. Your ship is equipped with a powerful quantum cannon and a strong defense shield. Your mission is to shoot all the aliens while trying to prevent the objects on earth from being bombed.

"Kill the attacking aliens" (KTAA) is a fast shoot-em-up game for Odyssey?, Videopac G7000 and Videopac+ G7400 video game consoles.

XYPE:

Xype is a group of programmers for retro video game consoles who created a recognizable name for exceptional video games. Shortly after the KTAA release I have been asked to join Xype and KTAA is now the 10th game released under the Xype name. To learn more about the other games Xype has released visit the Xype home page. 

The features of KTAA

- 7 different levels
- 6 alien types
- 4 types of power-ups
- 3 different shot speeds
- Bonus points for surviving objects at level end
- Highscore
- Custom sound effects
- Additional graphics on Videopac+ machines
- Runs on PAL and NTSC machines


STARTING THE GAME:

The normal "SELECT GAME" screen should appear. Press the key 1 to continue. If you own a Videopac+ G7400 and want to play the game without the additional background graphics then press the key 0 instead.

The title screen shows the name of the game and a scroll text. It alternates with the score display. The score display shows the score of the last game played and the highest score achieved so far. On the title screen press the action button of the right joystick to begin a new game. You see a screen which shows the level, score and current shield strength. Press fire again and the game starts.

PLAYING KTAA:

Move your ship with the joystick and press the action button to shoot at the aliens and their bombs. Avoid collisions with the aliens and the bombs, they reduce your shield strength. If you touch a bomb with your ship the bomb will explode, but the aliens have stronger shields, they survive direct ship contact.

If you hit an alien or a bomb a power-up may appear due to the quantum effects generated by your weapon. You can activate those power-ups by hitting them again with your cannon or by direct ship contact.

After you shot down all aliens in a level you get bonus points for the objects still intact. If you managed to save every object you get an additional 250 points bonus. After the bonus is counted the game advances to the next level.

After you have shot down all aliens in level 7, the moon level, the game starts again with level 1, but now your cannon shoots slower shots. The next wave of aliens will shoot more often every time you win level 7.

If your shield strength drops to zero your ship explodes and the game is over. The game is also over when all objects at the ground are destroyed by the alien bombs.


POWER-UPS:

10: add 10 points to the score
This power-up just adds 10 points to your score. It is the most common type of power-up.

F: fast shot
The fast shot power-up increases your shot speed for a short time. The shield display turns red while this power-up is active. If you collect another one while it is active the time restarts.

A: alien slow down
The alien slow down power-up slows down the aliens and their bombs for a short time. If you collect another one while it is active the time restarts.

S: shield reload
The shield power-up refreshes one unit of shield strength. If your shield has already full power nothing happens. This power-up is the most seldom one.


THE DEVELOPMENT OF KTAA:

I started KTAA somewhere in 1998 while experimenting with the graphic capabilities of the Videopac G7000. I created a display very similar to what is now level 1 and had the idea to create a game. I rewrote the graphics engine so often that there is now no trace of the original code left. I never thought it would take so long to finish it and have sometimes not touched it for months because I was too frustrated to work on it. 


CREDITS:

Credits

Several people helped me with ideas and testing during the development of KTAA. Without their work KTAA would be much worse or even never finished.

Ren? van den Enden did lots of testing and had many suggestions to improve KTAA.

Rafael Cardoso suggested the train level.

The O2EM emulator was a great help during development, its internal debugger made debugging much easier. So I want to thank Daniel Boris for creating O2EM and Andr? Rodrigues de la Rocha for maintaining and improving it.

I also want to thank all those people who sent me encouraging mails, they showed me that it was worth finishing KTAA.

http://soeren.informationstheater.de/g7000/ktaa.html



Kill the Attacking Aliens (KTAA for short) is a "homebrewed" Videopac/Odyssey? game developed by programmer S?ren Gust. S?ren is a member of Xype, an informal group of programmers who create exceptional games for classic consoles, so KTAA has been published under the Xype label.

KTAA is an unusual Space Invaders-type game where you must shoot down invading alien saucers while protecting your houses and trees from their devastating bombs. This HUGE game features some complicated action and animation, as well as enhanced background graphics when run in G7400 mode! For more information about the game and a free ROM download, visit S?ren's Kill the Attacking Aliens site. To buy it on cartridge, visit Packrat Video Games.

Prior to the game's final release, two sets of freely-distributable demo ROMs (playable with O2EM v.87 and higher) were made available. They may be downloaded through the links below.


You may notice some graphical glitches when playing this game through O2EM, the Odyssey? emulator. These glitches are not present when the game is played on a real console. 

http://odyssey2.classicgaming.gamespy.com/db/game.php?gameid=399
